Psychology is still in the process of establishing its appropriate scope of practice. A number of the other nonphysician health care disciplines have successfully sought to modify their state practice acts to allow various forms of prescription privileges. There is growing evidence that psychology will be seeking this clinical responsibility on a national basis.Psychology is a relatively young profession, especially in the health care arena (DeLeon, 1979;DeLeon & VandenBos, 1983; Raymond et al., in press). In fact, it was about a decade ago, with the passage of the Missouri State Psychology Practice Act in 1977, that the profession of psychology could finally claim express statutory recognition under every state code and that of the District of Columbia (DeLeon, Donahue, et al., 1984). The actual wording of the various state psychology practice (licensing) acts, and the scope of professional responsibilities thereby authorized, still differ considerably from state to state. However, there has been a gradual evolution toward uniformity. And, although not yet statutorily mandated in each state, there is general consensus that to function autonomously psychologists must possess a doctoral degree from a recognized pro-Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Richard M.
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